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Chapter 55 - Class is in Session
Fairy Tail: Paths of the Soul Shaking slightly, Amber rolled her head away from the sunlight that had woke her. She was using her arms as a pillow, resting on the cool wood of her desk, and had accidentally nodded off a bit. She sat up abruptly, feeling a cool breeze brush over her legs. Something was off, and it didn't take her very long to figure out what it was. She was wearing a white, short sleeved blouse with a grey, pleated skirt, and the desk she was sitting at was next to an open window overlooking an athletics field. What was she doing wearing a skirt? She hated skirts! "What the hell...?" She mumbled, trying to remember how she'd ended up here. "Amber..." Amber looked up to find herself sitting in a classroom surrounded by around two dozen other people, all of whom where all staring at her. "If you're going to interrupt class, you can wait in the hallway." Amber's gaze fell to the front of the room, on the person she assumed to be the teacher. Her jaw dropped however, because she recognized the face instantly. A small scowl below her purple, piercing eyes. Long purple hair with a singe braid hanging off the left side of her face. There was no way Amber could forget the dark mage she'd encountered on her first job. "Nina?" Murmurs emanated from the rest of the class, and Nina furrowed her brow. "That's Ms. Firart, to you." Amber still couldn't make sense of what she was seeing, but Nina whipped around and unfurled a diagram of a crocodile, an eagle, and a large cat over the chalkboard at the front of the room. "Seeing as how you're so interested in sleeping, perhaps you could tell me which of these three animal groups is the most likely to hunt nocturnally?" Amber had no response. A dark mage, one that she'd fought almost a month ago, was teaching a class that for some reason she was a part of. Had she missed something, or was this a prank? "Uhh..." Though she tried to answer, there where so many question running through her had that she couldn't formulate a thought. "I don't..." "Ms. Firart?" A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts, and Amber glanced across the room to see Fiona sitting with her hand in the air. She was dressed in the same manor as Amber, but looked a lot more comfortable in these clothes. She wore them better too. "I... Don't think Amber is feeling too well... Do you mind if I run her down to the nurse's office?" Slowly, Nina's gaze glided to Fiona, then back to Amber. After staring at her for just a moment, she shrugged. "If you think it's necessary." ---- A few minutes later, Amber was following Fiona down the hallway. She'd gone with her mostly to get away from Nina's glare, but also wanted to ask what the hell was going on. "Guess you wanted out of biology class too, huh?" Fiona was absentmindedly walking along with her fingers interlocked behind her head, looking like she didn't have a care in the world. "I don't think Ms. Firart really likes being a teacher. How about you?" Amber abruptly grabbed at her hand. "Fiona, what's going on?" She mumbled, griping at the pockets of her skirt like she thought it would blow up on her at any moment. "Why the hell are we dressed like this?" The look of confusion Fiona gave her only brought more questions. "Well... It's the school's uniform. Duh..." Amber let go of her hand and took a step back, and Fiona gave her a concerned look. "Are you really not feeling well? It looked like you expected Ms. Firart to attack you back there." "Uhh..." Amber was speechless. This had to be a prank, right? "C'mon." Fiona beckoned her forward, opening a door farther down the hallway with a red cross hanging above the door. "Maybe you really should get checked out." With no other option, Amber followed her into the office. It was dimly lit, despite the massive window taking up most of the far wall. Two beds surrounded by curtains rested on one side of the room, and a single desk sat opposite them. Jaina was slumped down behind the desk wearing a white lab coat, looked up from behind a magazine and gave an annoyed huff. "Really Fiona, again? I thought running practice wasn't until this afternoon, how the hell did you manage to twist your ankle already?" Almost leaping over the desk, Amber jumped at Jaina and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "Oh my god, it's you!" She cried, hoping she, of all people would alleviate some of the questions on her mind. "What's going on Jaina? Everyone's acting really weird." "Yeah! I can see that!" She yelled in annoyance. Amber stopped dead; feeling her heart grow heavy as Jaina pushed her away and glared at Fiona. "Did she hit her head or something?!" "Um... No." Fiona had backed up and quickly closed the door, but had her hand covering her mouth somewhat meekly when she turned around. "Amber... Your underwear's showing." Her face turning beet red, Amber jumped upright and grabbed at the back of her skirt. Jaina's quizzical glances made it all the worse. This was exactly why she hated skirts. "Well..." Jaina muttered, pushing out of her seat. "I'll have a look at her. So, Fiona, get back to class." Fiona moaned in disappointment, but Jaina had a retort before she every said anything. "I won't be responsible when your grades start slipping, so scoot!" Puffing out her cheeks in annoyance, Fiona opened the door again and stepped out. "Don't worry about your stuff, Amber." She said, twirling around. "I'll leave it on the roof with those two underclassmen you always hang out with." ---- Keeping to her word, Jaina gave Amber a quick look over. She didn't have a fever, wasn't sick, and had no complaints to speak of. Besides how strange everyone was acting, that is. After Jaina suggested a bout of fatigue, Amber just nodded and went with the flow. She let her stay in the nurses' office for the rest of the period, but that time had come and gone, and now she was wondering the halls with the other students. Her hands never left her pockets, growing more self conscious watching her skirt sway from side to side with every step she took. It was bad enough that she had to wear one in the first place, but this hallway full of people made her want to crawl back to the nurse's office again and never come out again. She had at least some idea of where she was going, despite finding nothing familiar. It felt like she'd walked these halls a million times, and soon enough she was making her way up to the staircase to the roof. Fiona had mentioned two underclassmen would be waiting for her there, and she had a pretty good guess as to who it would be. Shelly was sitting on a bench overlooking the athletics field with her sketchbook on her lap, and Carra was sitting on the ground in front of her hastily consuming a sandwich. Sure enough, they wore the same white blouse and gray skirt as she was, and both of them looked up when Amber opened the door to the roof. "Hi Amber!" Shelly called, returning to her drawing after a moment. Amber made her way over to them, and Shelly pushed a book-bag toward her when she was close enough. "Fiona dropped this off. She said you had to go to see the nurse." Carra stuffed the remains of her lunch into her mouth, then looked over her shoulder at her. "Are you feeling better?" "Yeah..." Amber nodded slightly, deciding to just go along with whatever was happening. "Have you guys seen Armeria?" Looking up from her drawing, Shelly seemed confused. "You mean that hero from the TV show?" "I missed last night's episode." Carra murmured, getting up slowly and smoothing out her skirt. "I like it a lot though; a crime fighter who can turn into a bunch of different weapons. It's so cool!" Amber nodded slightly, taken aback by how forward Carra was being. That, and she was trying to backpedal a bit. "Y-yeah, I like it too." Shelly began to giggle. "You two are such kids." Carra's face turned beet red, but Amber didn't have a response. Forget a prank, she had to be dreaming or something, right? But seeing as she was wearing a skirt, maybe it was more of a nightmare. "Hey Carra, how's the new history teacher?" "You mean Mr. Vulcanus?" She asked, twirling a finger through one of her long pigtails. "Yeah." Shelly nodded, closing her sketchbook and stowing it away in her bag. "I hear he's really funny. Kind of weird too, always wears this long purple scarf." At first, Amber had decided to simply hang back and listen, but that last bit had jogged her memory. "Wait, the Aged Pelt guy?" She blurted without thinking. The two of them glanced at her quizzically. "Aged Pelt?" Shelly repeated. "What's that?" "The mage..." Amber began, stopping herself to think of the shortest explanation she could. "Show... It's a TV show." "Mage Show?" Carra repeated. Amber nodded her head, and that was all it took for the redhead to leave it alone. "Well, I haven't had his class yet, not until next week." She glanced out over the railing, but perked up upon remembering a new detail. "Oh, but Axel said he thinks he's got a crush on the librarian. He got really flustered when she dropped by one time ." "Axel's here?" Amber mumbled, instantly cursing herself for even opening her mouth. Nothing had made sense so far, so why did she keep reacting to everything expecting it to be normal? The odd looks everyone was giving her where getting a little frustrating, and she was still wearing this damn skirt! "Yeah, you have home room with him, don't you?" Shelly asked, sounding not so sure of herself. "With my brother and all your other friends, right?" "Y-yeah." Amber nodded slightly, deciding to just keep her mouth shut. If this was a dream, she was ready to wake up any minute now. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. Carra mentioned something about a librarian, and if that was who she thought it was then maybe, just maybe, something would make sense. "Amber?" She realized she'd spaced out, and Shelly was leaning in close to her face. "You awake in there?" "Yes!" She blurted, backing away. "I uh... I just remembered I have to do something." She took another quick step back and spun on her heel towards the door. "See you guys later." Shelly and Carra both waved, exchanging a quizzical glance as to why Amber was acting so weird. ---- Thankfully, the halls had emptied a bit since the last time she'd walked them. Lunch period was ending soon, so everyone was already heading back to class. Not Amber though. She sprinted down the halls as fast as her skirt anxiety would allow her. As soon as she finished up at the library, the very next thing she'd do is track down some pants. She skidded around a corner, almost knocking over a wet floor sign in the process. "Hey, careful!" The janitor called to her, sweeping a bunch of dried up leaves into a garbage bag. "Don't run in the halls." It was Thain Rook, the thief who had tried to steal the Rainbow stone. "S-sorry..." Amber mumbled, fighting the urge to stop. That was the second dark mage she'd encountered today; if this was a dream, maybe she needed to talk to a specialist. She flew through the library doors, skidding to a halt just short of the front desk. A surprised Miki Kilowick looked up at her, almost knocking over a pile of books next to her in the process. "Can..." She mumbled, pausing a moment to clear her throat. "Can I assist you with something?" Amber was stunned. It was supposed to be Isa, not Miki. Isa was the librarian at the guild, and she used spell books for crying out loud! As her mind calmed, she remembered what Carra's exact words where. The history teacher, Rondo, had a crush on the Librarian, Miki. Of course It was going to be Miki. "Is Isa-... I mean, Ms. Wondril here right now?" She asked hopefully. "The student councilor?" Amber nodded excitedly, but that excitement vanished when Miki shook her head. "I'm sorry, but no. I think she's been in her office all day." Amber huffed in disappointment, but that made sense. Isa was the councilor in this little school fantasy of hers, that seemed to fit her better than a librarian. Helping people seemed to be in her DNA. "OK... Thanks anyway." ---- While her next plan of action after the library was to find something to wear other than her skirt, there wasn't enough time to look around before the next classes started. She had just enough time to run to the cafeteria, where Jon and Elligr served her lunch. The next subject was math, being taught by Sinnan. Amber couldn't figure out the connection there, and left the class wondering why she wasn't a student like her other friends. After that was science, and Amber laughed when the diminutive Hammond poked his head up from behind the teacher's desk. He wore a long lab coat that reached far past the ends of his fingers, and she couldn't stop snickering every time he gestured to explain something. Her next class, and her saving grace, was gym. The second she realized she had a change of clothes waiting for her, Amber couldn't get there fast enough. She now sat between Shelly and Carra on the sandy part of the athletics field, hugging her knees through the white tee-shirt and bright red track pants that everyone else adorned, feeling like nothing else could bother her anymore. That feeling quickly changed however, when she realized that the teacher of this class was none other than the exuberant Terra, and a knot formed in the pit of her stomach. If she was in charge of the physical activities, they might all be in some real trouble very soon. "First!" She boomed, waving a clipboard to get everyone's attention. "Relay! Everyone line up when I call your name!" She walked across the track, and began trailing the finger of her bandaged arm down the list. "Fiona... Carra... Lyra, Tyra, and Syla. You are up front." Carra moaned as she got to her feet. "I'll never beet Fiona..." Amber, meanwhile, watched three versions of Lyra Storm line up on the far end of the track. "Right..." She mumbled with a chuckle. "Because she makes copies of herself..." "Copies?" Shelly questioned. "They're triplets, aren't they?" Amber nodded quickly, but was no less amused. Now that she wasn't worrying about her skirt, and knew she wasn't going crazy, she was actually beginning to enjoying herself. "Ready?" Terra raised an arm, and Carra, Fiona, and the three Lyra's all stood at the ready. "Go!" Fiona exploded forward in a flash, leaving Carra and the three Lyra's in the dust. They barely made it fifteen feet off the start line before Fiona made a full lap of the track and skidded back to the start line. Amber's jaw hung open; that was absolutely magic. Velocity, or whatever Fiona used. She slowly glanced to Shelly, not knowing weather to expect a reaction or not, but her blank expression made her chuckle none the less. "Seven point four seconds." Terra read off a stopwatch. "You are slipping up, Fiona." Fiona ran her hands through her hair and groaned in frustration, and stepped off the field to allow the others to finish their lap. Surprisingly, Carra came up next, but that only seemed to be because the three Lyra's had all quite the race part way through their run. "I... Hate... Running..." Carra gasped, resting her hands on her knees. "The triplets have fallen behind again." Terra mused with a somewhat puzzled look on her face. "Oh well... No matter. Next up will be-." A loud bang shook the ground, setting everyone on alert. One of the concrete walls surrounding the athletics field collapsed, and a number of silhouettes appeared in the rising dust cloud. Everyone jumped to their feet, and confused murmurs filled the air. "Oh no..." Shelly took a step back and covered her mouth, while Carra latched onto her arm. "It's the delinquents!" A massive creature burst through the dust; hunched like a gorilla, long, curved horns, a wolf like snout. Sharp spines stuck through an open jacket, but Amber recognized him instantly. There was no way she'd ever have for gotten the face of Oran Fulbore's beastly transformation. "Not him..." She complained. "What's up, everybody?!" He shouted, throwing his arms into the air. "Just comin' by for a but of fun, you know? I wanna' play a game!" "The last game he played was locking us in the storage shed..." Shelly mumbled in a half annoyed, half fearful tone. "I wish they'd just stay at their own school instead of coming over here to bully us..." That definitely wasn't how Amber remembered their encounter going, but before she could say anything they where hurriedly rushed back towards the closest school building by Terra. "Now now, you all should probably wait in-." The ground below them began to shake, sounding like a herd of charging bulls was approaching them. Suddenly, Jak flew out from behind one of the buildings with a monstrous roar. He currently took the appearance of his crocodilian Take-over form, but with a short sleeve button up shirt and small tie covering his massive, scaly chest. Seeing it made Amber fall into a fit of historical laughter, even as Jak's fist connected with the side of Oran's head. The beast rolled upright, landing on all fours and snarling back at him, but a gathering crowd from behind the building Jak had emerged from gave him pause. "Look!" Carra cried, directing everyone's attention to the event. "The baseball team is here!" Having just gotten over her laughing fit, Amber had a hard time catching her breath, but she recognized pretty much everybody. At the head of the charge was Rift, holding a mangled metal signpost over his shoulder. "So..." He said through a grin of his pointed teeth. "You pricks looking for a fight?" Jak and Oran backed away from one another, and the two crowds parted. Amber had a pretty good idea of who would be leading, given Oran had made the first appearance, so she was caught completely off guard when Raven and Clair stepped up. "So what if we are?" He said, a fireball jumping to life in his hand. Clair clung to his arm, looking down her nose at the baseball team standing opposite them. She honestly looked ridiculous. Her usually regal dress had been replaced by what appeared to be someone's bad attempt at a schoolgirl cosplay, covered with bows and a skirt so short that it put a nervous knot in Amber's stomach just by looking at it. "Wait, wait a minuet." Amber stuttered; this was becoming a bit too absurd for her. "Why is Raven a bad guy?" Shelly and Carra exchanged a glance. "Have... You met him?" They said in unison. She didn't know what she expected, but Amber agreed with them instantly. Sure, he was a part of their guild, but he absolutely would've made the perfect bad guy. She glanced over her shoulder, but the fight began the moment she did. She snapped her head back to watch, but it was all nonsensical. Apart from Oran and Jak resuming their brawl, she couldn't make out anybody for the dust that was being kicked up. It looked like something out of a cartoon. "Now everyone, head inside." She heard Terra urge. "The principal will be here shortly." Amber jumped up to her feet, realizing she'd been left behind in the middle of the field. She didn't want to run away, she recognized half the faces of the delinquents as bandits from Bloody Smile. Even if this was a dream, it was the perfect opportunity to get some payback. A chorus of cries trying to discourage her followed Amber as she raced across the field. Not many of the Bloody Smile guys could use magic, and she hoped that it wouldn't mater that Armeria wasn't with her this time. She punched the first delinquent she saw, who flopped onto his back in surprise. A huge rush hit her, and she moved onto the next two. They fall as well, but someone grabbed her wrist when she drew back to hit another. She spun around, freezing in place when she saw the condescending grin of Django Fulbore staring back at her. "Hello there." He waved, flicking a playing card out of his sleeve. "Come to accept my offer?" Surprise quickly faded, only to be replaced by repulsion "Not you too..." "Duck Amber!" Having learned not to ask questions when someone said that, Amber dropped out of the way and a fist flew over her head into Django's face. Axel slid to a halt next to her, pulling Amber back to her feet. They both stared down at the unconscious Django for a moment, before he turned to her and said. "You came to help?" Before she had a chance to answer, someone yelled. "Look, it's the principal!" Gliding across the athletics field on a pair of giant, shining wings was Zeke. Amber burst out laughing again, the tie of his little blue suite flapping in the wind, and there was no way she remembered his wings being that large. "Begone, you ruffians!" He yelled in the most masculine voice Amber had ever heard. The bandits turned tail instantly, bringing a cry of victory from the entire baseball team. Shelly and Carra returned as well, with Leo following after them. "What happened here?” He demanded." "Assholes, that's what happened." Geno spat, emerging from the crowd. "Don't worry about it through, we cleared them out." A huge argument ensued almost instantly. Leo, and many of the teachers Amber had met that day insisting that they should have stayed out of it, while many on Rift's side saying it was only self defense. Amber decided to keep out of it, she got a couple punches in, that was good enough for her. Everything after that didn't interest her. "Amber?" A familiar voice called. "What're you doing here?" Amber spun around, ecstatic to find Isa standing right behind her. "Oh my god..." She mumbled, wrapping her arms around Isa's stomach. "Today has been so weird..." "Oh, I know it has..." She whispered, returning her hug with a sort of motherly affection. "But, uh... I think you need to wake up now." Amber jumped back in surprise. Finding that the world was dissolving around them. "You mean...?" "Yep." Isa smiled, before she too faded away. "You really are dreaming, sweetie." ---- Amber shot upright, wincing as her wounds all began to ache at once. She'd dozed off on Isa's couch, in the midst of reading a book she'd lent her. She found said book, a teen drama set in a prep-school, resting open on her tummy, but it'd been so boring that it'd literally bored her to sleep. "You can't be serious..." "Hmm?" Isa's voice came from the other room, and she poked her head around the corner after a moment. "Oh, you're up. Have a nice dream?" "It was..." She began, not really knowing where to begin. "Weird." "I see." Isa vanished into the other room, and Amber could hear shuffling coming from within. "I hope you don't mind, I bought you some new clothes. I looked at the tag of your old shirt, so I think everything should fit alright." "Thanks." Amber mumbled, stretching her arms up above her head. Her wounds stung, but that was nothing compared to the ache in her back that she'd woken up with. "I'll try some on later." "Ok." The tone in Isa's voice seemed a lot more upbeat, and the shuffling finally stopped. She stepped around the corner again with Armeria in her arms, wearing the biggest smile Amber had aver seen from her. "I didn't really know what you liked, so I got a bit of everything." Amber nodded appreciatively, but she felt her blood go cold when she saw what was hanging on the hanger behind her. "I found this one skirt that I think would look really good on you too. We can try that one first." 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